How to fight corruption: Time for qui tam laws?
Corruption is the main impediment to Ukraine’s prosperity and
long-term security. If Ukraine had an
effective, efficient and less corrupt state, it would enjoy legitimacy,
investment, and, as a country of 46 million people, would face few
threats—either foreign or domestic—to its sovereignty and territorial
integrity.
How can Ukraine become less corrupt? One solution is lustration, or a purge of
corrupt officials through massive anti-corruption campaigns. To the extent that corruption is caused by
the personal characteristics of officials, then firing or prosecuting corrupt
officials and replacing them with people of integrity and ability is part of
the solution. But what if the problem is
not simply bad people, but bad incentives and institutions? Or if it is not so easy to select “good”
honest and capable people to staff the bureaucracy? If this is the case, then lustration will not
solve the problem. And the history of massive
anti-corruption campaigns and lustration efforts is not terribly promising as a
means to root out corruption.
Prosecution is often selective—targeting one’s political enemies rather
than treating all potential cases equally—and such campaigns often devolve
quickly into politically motivated efforts to redistribute the spoils of the
state. Purges of this kind may result in
a turnover in personnel as the loyal members of one political faction are
replaced with those of another, but not a change in the corrupt nature of the
system. Corruption remains.
